Aotearoa / New Zealand

I work with fire alarm systems for a living, so it's fascinating to see a building get so bad it is shut down entirely by the fire brigade.

No BWOF since 2017 is just incredible though.

Heard this on the BBC news podcast today, they reference our attempt....that we have given up on.

May as well participate since we are lucky enough to have a voice in this country

A Māori mum misidentified as a trespassed "thief" at a Rotorua supermarket trialling facial recognition technology says she felt "racially discriminated" against and embarrassed during the "horrible" birthday incident.

The store is part of a six-month trial of facial recognition technology in 25 of Foodstuffs' North Island supermarkets, which is being monitored by the Privacy Commissioner.

The technology scans customers' faces and compares these images to those on the store's databases of known offenders or suspects.

She said on the evening of 2 April, her 47th birthday, she stopped in with her teenage son to buy chops to go with fried rice from a Chinese takeaway.

She said two male staff approached her in the meat section and one got "literally in [her] face" and loudly told her: "You have been trespassed and you need to go".

She said they insisted she leave, even when she offered photo identification.

Solomon said the "horrible" ordeal went on for about 10 minutes before she and her son left the store without the chops, and she broke down in tears in the carpark.

She said she felt helpless and the incident "ruined what was until then a wonderful birthday".

Consumer New Zealand's chief executive Jon Duffy said the use of this technology was "highly invasive" from a privacy perspective, "like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut".

"Many New Zealanders don't have a choice where they shop which means they may be forced to give up their data, whether they like it or not."

Napier's former prison is closing due to safety concerns, leaving the man who runs tours through the site unhappy he will be locked out.

The 162-year-old prison, New Zealand's oldest jail, has become a popular attraction since Toro Waaka began leasing the Bluff Hill property more than two decades ago.

He first opened a backpackers' lodge, which has since closed, before beginning the popular tours. They attract more than 30,000 people a year.

Toitū Te Whenua Land Information NZ, which manages the Crown landbanked site, told Waaka last month his lease was up.

Land Information said the site was an earthquake risk and retaining walls needed an upgrade.

Welcome to this week's casual kōrero thread!

This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.

It's for talking about anything that doesn't justify a full post. For example:

• Something interesting that happened to you
• Something humourous that happened to you
• Something frustrating that happened to you
• A quick question
• A request for recommendations
• Pictures of your pet
• A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like a hippo
• Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)

I don't know if it's allowed here, but i matched with some cousins on ancestry. We figured out that their cousin Robert Little must be my grandfather. They say they don't have much contact with Bob and were unable to give me a phone number for him. Google searches for him have come up empty.

This is all the information i have, and im hoping someone can help me.

Robert little lives in Whanganui and has a son named Roderick. Roberts parents were Winifred White and Tom Little.

We're 95 percent sure this man is my grandfather and would like to find him before it's too late. I don't think he knew he had a daughter, (my mother) and i want them to meet.

Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!

Anyway, it’s just a chance to talk about your day, what you have planned, what you have done, etc.

So, how’s it going?

cross-posted from: https://jlai.lu/post/5874257

Lemmy users, you can now vote for your favourite song in Lemmyvision's song contest, an Eurovision-like song contest, in which various instances submitted a song of their choice!

My sincere thanks everyone for your submissions, I have created a form where you can rank your favourite songs, it's available here :

➡️ Lemmyvision Voting Form - https://tally.so/r/nWNgKQ ⬅️

I'll leave the form open for a week and then collect the results!

Make sure to check each submitted song thanks to the playlists @Ategon@programming.dev has created:

• Youtube Link
• Spotify Link
• Invidious Link

Full list of songs:

• 🇦🇺 Royel Otis - Heading For The Door (aussie.zone / Australia)
• 🇧🇪 Puggy - Lost Child (!belgique@jlai.lu / Belgium)
• 🇨🇦 Lu Kala - Hotter Now (lemmy.ca / Canada)
• 🇩🇰 Pil - Dronning Af Månen (feddit.dk / Denmark)
• 🇫🇷 Bagarre - ON EST LES MÊMES (jlai.lu / France)
• 🇭🇺 Azahriah - introvertált dal (!hungary@lemmy.world / Hungary)
• 🇬🇧 The Northern Boys - Sexy Train (feddit.uk / UK)
• 🇦🇶 Casette Beasts - Your Inception (programming.dev / Programming)
• 🇳🇿 Tiki Taana - Tangaroa (lemmy.nz / New Zealand)

You will be asked to rank the songs from your favourite to least favourite ; you may notice that users from specific instance cannot rank the song their instance has submitted, in order to keep things fair. Users from non-participating instances can still participate in the voting, and self identify as third party. Let me know if there's any issue with the form!

Enjoy! 🎶

By the comments made by the person being interviewed, it sounds like this was also a case of arson?

Rees said he was having a nap in his room on the second-storey on Sunday afternoon when he heard someone walk up the stairs and say, "set fire to the place".

"All of a sudden, smoke came billowing over my door," Rees said.

Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!

Anyway, it’s just a chance to talk about your day, what you have planned, what you have done, etc.

So, how’s it going?

Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!

Anyway, it’s just a chance to talk about your day, what you have planned, what you have done, etc.

So, how’s it going?

A woman who saw three orca whales in Wellington harbour this morning says it was a joyful way to start the day.

Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!

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"Some of you have heard my story. I had a cane, I had a long cane. When the law says don't smack your kids well, I broke the law.

"I had a cane. Bend over, whack! The other son comes. Bend over, bend over, stop lifting your head, whack!"

He then goes on to joke about smacking one of his children more for resisting punishment.

I love the work The Spinoff does.

This is great news, and something that should have been done a long time ago. Also, fuck Fletcher building.

In the 1960s, workers' frustration was bubbling over. Measly compensation payments were not enough to make ends meet if they were injured and could not work.

Supreme court judge Sir Owen Woodhouse saw people battling the legal system to prove their injuries were caused by employers' negligence, and chaired a royal commission investigation.

He recommended a radical change - introducing automatic cover for injured people.

In 1973 the original Accident Compensation Act covered work injuries and car accidents, and an amendment the following year made it more comprehensive.

New Zealanders gave up their right to sue for damages, and in return got the no-faults scheme that still stood 50 years on.

This is exactly why I made sure when buying my house/section that it was more than 5m higher than sea level and inland from the coast. Not that that will mitigate the societal collapse following the glaciers'.

The world might be able to geoengineer saving one maybe two glaciers. But not all of them, not Greenland's icesheet and not the entire Antarctic icesheet.

Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!

Anyway, it’s just a chance to talk about your day, what you have planned, what you have done, etc.

So, how’s it going?